This invention relates to a method and apparatus for moving newly formed glass containers from the cooling deadplate to the moving machine conveyors that pass by in front of the forming machines of the individual section type. The machine conveyors for a ten section machine have one conveyor that runs the full length of the ten sections with the second conveyor running in front of only the last five of the sections. In this way, the line speed of the conveyors can be half as fast as they need to be if all the ware were being handled by only one conveyor. Since the two conveyors are running side-by-side it is necessary that the first five sections have a means or sweepout that will move the containers onto the farthest conveyor while the next five sweepouts may be of conventional design for moving the ware to the nearest conveyor.
The prior art, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,465, shows two conveyors being used to transport the containers from the forming machine to the lehr. However, there is nothing that explains how the containers are moved from the machine sections to the conveyor surfaces. The conventional transfer mechanisms are called "sweepouts" since they, in effect, engage the ware that is sitting on the "cooling deadplate" and slide the ware with a sweeping action from the deadplate to the moving surface of the conveyor. Since the conveyors are at different distances from the deadplates of the first five sections as compared to the second five, the mechanisms must be of different designs in order to handle the ware. The present invention uses identical sweepout heads and drive motors for all of the sweepouts, but with the ability to shuttle the sweepouts, that are associated with the first set of machine sections, toward the conveyor as the sweepout arm is being rotated to slide the ware from the machine sections to the conveyor. In this way only one style and size of sweepout is required for all of the sections.
The sweepout head, per se, is not new, having been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,431, of common assignee with the present case. Reference may be had to this Patent for details of the structure of the sweepout mechanism and the programmable controller for the drive motor.
In the operation of the typical, quadruple cavity, ten section glass forming machine, all of the blow molds of a section are in a line that is perpendicular to the conveyor belt, and parallel to each other. The takeout mechanism has tongs which grasp the neck of the were as they sit in the molds and when the mold is opened the takeout arm is driven so that the ware is moved through an arc of 180.degree. in the vertical plane to a cooling dead plate. The ware is released to the dead plate and rests on its base as it is being swept from the deadplate to the conveyor. It is the sweepout mechanism and its operation that is the principal subject of this invention.
It is an object of this invention to provide a system for sweeping containers resting on the first set of deadplates, the extra distance onto the outside conveyor belt of the dual machine conveyor.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a shuttle sweepout that requires no modification of the takeout mechanism; head or arm, or the sweepout rotary actuator and cylinder.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide a sweepout mechanism that does not impose excessive forces on the soft glass container during the transfer to the conveyor because of excessive speed or acceleration.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a sweepout system that does not sacrifice mold cooling time or deadplate cooling time in order to perform the transfer of the ware.